Hands on with OWA for iPhone, Microsoft’s Outlook for iOS (sort of)

OWA for iPhone brings more Windows Phone functionality and feel to Apple's device.

Microsoft has added another piece to its "free" Office package for iPhone users—free as in “free with an Office 365 account,” that is. This time, Microsoft included an Outlook mail client and calendar…sort of. Called OWA (as in Outlook Web App) for iPhone, this app takes the behaviors and interface of the Outlook client on Windows Phone 8 and embeds them in an iOS application formatted for the iPhone. It's similar to what Microsoft did with the Office app released last month.

As its name suggests, OWA for iPhone is not a full-fledged Outlook client in that it’s limited to the single e-mail account associated with an Office 365 account. It does, however, have most of the functionality you’d expect from a phone mail client. It syncs contacts with the iPhone address book, pushes notifications for appointments and new mail, and generally does everything else that the Windows Phone 8 Outlook and Calendar apps do with a somewhat similar interface.

Microsoft has thrown in a few things to subvert the Apple ecosystem besides building the application in an HTML5 clone of its “Metro” interface. For example, when you set the location for a meeting in OWA’s calendar, you can search for the location with Bing Maps and attach the address and map information to the appointment. Other features of the Outlook and full Outlook Web clients, such as automatic creation of appointments based on the contents of e-mails and access to LinkedIn data on the sender of an e-mail, are also part of the OWA for iPhone client.

The OWA client adds an additional layer of security for people who put the app on their personal phone—a mobile PIN. You can add a four-digit PIN code to the app to protect access to your e-mail, allowing you to pass your phone to your bored child or spouse to play Plants vs. Zombies without worrying about exposing them to the horrors of your work life.

The startup screen for OWA for iPhone.

The startup screen for OWA for iPhone.

You must be at least this tall to ride: OWA for iPhone only works with the most up-to-date version of Office 365. If you're still on the pre-Office 2013 edition, you're stuck.

One per customer: OWA for iPhone does not support multiple Outlook accounts. But that's not really a big deal, since OWA is meant to keep your Outlook mail from mingling with the unwashed masses of your personal mail accounts.

There's a brief walk-through with tips on the interface after you first launch the app.

OWA allows you (or requires you, based on security settings) to set up a 4-digit security PIN separate from your iPhone's password.

Once you're logged into the app, it looks a lot like Windows 8—with a flat tile interface and HTML5 animations.

The Inbox looks almost identical to the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 "Metro" mail clients.

In messages, OWA can use the same Exchange server-side applications as Outlook 2013, including the built-in LinkedIn tool for pulling up contact data and the "Suggested Meetings" feature.

Tap "Suggested Meetings" and OWA starts building a calendar entry based on the text of the e-mail.

You can then edit the location or search Bing for a matching location to get the actual address.

Pick the location that matches...

...and it's added to the appointment, ready to be added to your calendar and sent to other invitees.

You can set the time for an appointment quickly with Microsoft's answer to the spinning-dial interface—a set of scrolling blocks to set the hour and minute and choose between AM or PM.

There are three calendar views to choose from—an agenda view...

...a standard daily view...

..and a month calendar view, which drills down into daily or agenda view when you tap on days with appointments.

While the editing interface for messages is spartan—perhaps too spartan—tapping on the ellipses at the top-right of the screen pulls down some additional options for messages.

The People interface—OWA's address book—is essentially the same as the Outlook Web interface from the browser.

This is where you can select to embed content from your phone in the message, as well as set and check address fields and importance.

Unfortunately, there's no connection here to SkyDrive or local storage other than photos, so all you can send from the iPhone is images.

Close a message without sending, and you can save as a draft or delete.

Yeah, sure, 'cause who the hell would want to use Outlook with their existing Exchange server? Okay, Apple's own apps do a pretty decent job of Exchange support, but that doesn't mean Microsoft couldn't do a better job.

Gonna resist this push by MS and Adobe to turn their software into a service for as long as possible, and take a serious look at non-subscription alternatives if straight up license purchasing doesn't return. Make a compelling upgrade and I'll buy it. Don't expect me to keep paying you every year no matter how marginal this year's upgrade is.

How big is the market of iOS users that run Office 365 and want to use Outlook on their iPhones, really? I would like to give this a try but for some silly reason corporate IT opted for VL and not Office 365. I guess they just aren't ready for the cloud yet... (/s)

Just another reminder that almost 7.5 months into the year and my O365 sub hasn't been f*ing upgraded to the 2013 release yet. I even got an email 3 months ago telling me to get ready, it was coming soon!

I'm surprised Microsoft is being given a free pass to dump a Metro theme on iOS. It looks out of place and my experience has always been that users hate it when a ported app looks like the OS it was ported from instead of native-feeling. (Anyone else remember the debacle that was Word 6.0 on classic Mac OS??)

I'm surprised Microsoft is being given a free pass to dump a Metro theme on iOS. It looks out of place and my experience has always been that users hate it when a ported app looks like the OS it was ported from instead of native-feeling. (Anyone else remember the debacle that was Word 6.0 on classic Mac OS??)

I'm surprised Microsoft is being given a free pass to dump a Metro theme on iOS. It looks out of place and my experience has always been that users hate it when a ported app looks like the OS it was ported from instead of native-feeling. (Anyone else remember the debacle that was Word 6.0 on classic Mac OS??)

Because we like the interface?

When in Rome...Porting a different OS's style is generally a bad design for the users. If one wants a Metro UI, then one should buy a device with a Metro Ui, such as a Windows phone or tablet. Those who buy an iOS device usually expect an iOS UI and that expectation should be honored in order to maintain a consistent UX. While MS is not the only one to commit this sin (I'm looking at you, iTunes on Windows), this example is particularly egregious. It seems more like an ad for Windows Phone. MS seems intent to shove the Metro UI down everyone's throat, and they are no longer content to do this on their own desktop platform. Now they are doing this on other platforms where the experience is even more jarring. For what reason I do not know why.

Why is it that Windows people think IO7 is like Windows, Android people think IOS7 is like Android and when you see the thing on a phone (I have a dev copy) I see nothing that looks the same.... I work out of an incubator and the play is to get a Windows phone, Android and IOS7 and lay them out and see which people think is better. IOS 7 wins a lot, and NOBODY thinks that any of them look alike at all..... When you see IOS7, is it its own animal, which you will either like or not.... But it is NOT copying Windows at all. Leather stitching and faux wood is gone, but it is very much its own 3 layer ui that will make it or not because it is so NOT Windows phone.

BTW I think it is really awesome and people will like it, but the design does polarize a lot of people when they see it.

I'm surprised Microsoft is being given a free pass to dump a Metro theme on iOS. It looks out of place and my experience has always been that users hate it when a ported app looks like the OS it was ported from instead of native-feeling. (Anyone else remember the debacle that was Word 6.0 on classic Mac OS??)

Because we like the interface?

MS seems intent to shove the Metro UI down everyone's throat, and they are no longer content to do this on their own desktop platform. Now they are doing this on other platforms where the experience is even more jarring. For what reason I do not know why.

Perhaps they truly believe that if people are exposed to Metro UI, they will consider buying portables/tablets with Metro/Win8 instead of iOS and their portable market share will increase. Same reason Metro is bolted on the desktop.

Why is it that Windows people think IO7 is like Windows, Android people think IOS7 is like Android and when you see the thing on a phone (I have a dev copy) I see nothing that looks the same.... I work out of an incubator and the play is to get a Windows phone, Android and IOS7 and lay them out and see which people think is better. IOS 7 wins a lot, and NOBODY thinks that any of them look alike at all..... When you see IOS7, is it its own animal, which you will either like or not.... But it is NOT copying Windows at all. Leather stitching and faux wood is gone, but it is very much its own 3 layer ui that will make it or not because it is so NOT Windows phone.

BTW I think it is really awesome and people will like it, but the design does polarize a lot of people when they see it.

What is it with Microsoft and pushing Metro? Why not just have a UI which fits in with the platform your app is for?

To be fair, in this case it's because it would look like ass. Even Apple think Metro is way better (see: iOS7) than the mess that iOS has become (or always was?).

It's not identical to Windows Phone (or Android, although some features are ripped-off wholesale in both directions there), but it's CLEARLY inspired by it. Just as Android changes have been. It's a cleaner, flatter interface that is a marked turnaround from a company heading in the (wrong) other direction with UX. Android saw the writing on the wall much earlier and began to imitate WP7 first (although imitate might not be the exact right word as neither are direct copies of the artist formerly known as Metro, which is mostly good, Metro is beautiful, not perfect) and it seems like (finally) Apple have also got the memo: skeuomorphism is dead - because it sucks.

I'm surprised Microsoft is being given a free pass to dump a Metro theme on iOS. It looks out of place and my experience has always been that users hate it when a ported app looks like the OS it was ported from instead of native-feeling. (Anyone else remember the debacle that was Word 6.0 on classic Mac OS??)

Because we like the interface?

When in Rome...Porting a different OS's style is generally a bad design for the users. If one wants a Metro UI, then one should buy a device with a Metro Ui, such as a Windows phone or tablet. Those who buy an iOS device usually expect an iOS UI and that expectation should be honored in order to maintain a consistent UX. While MS is not the only one to commit this sin (I'm looking at you, iTunes on Windows), this example is particularly egregious. It seems more like an ad for Windows Phone. MS seems intent to shove the Metro UI down everyone's throat, and they are no longer content to do this on their own desktop platform. Now they are doing this on other platforms where the experience is even more jarring. For what reason I do not know why.

With respect, they're not shoving the Metro UI down anyone's throat. Nobody is forcing iOS users to utilize these applications, and every single iOS user on the planet has gotten by just fine - since 2007 - without them.

Perhaps MS is doing this because they've gotten really good at designing highly intuitive applications that utilize the Metro UI. It's incredibly intuitive on a phone (I won't speak to Metro on a PC), and I wouldn't mind it if I were an iPhone user. Hell, I'm an iPad user, and I sure as hell wouldn't mind if MS took this tack with Office on the iPad.

Now, I'm generally in favor of your argument that applications should adhere to the native OS style when being ported. But I think it's less an issue today than it has been historically: users are more advanced today, and can quickly learn to navigate various UIs within a given environment. Software has also gotten much, much better.

There are 140+ million iPads, and 10s of millions of Android tablets (and Kindle Fires) being used everyday without MS Office.

You would think that MS would want support those earlier adopters (influencers) with a copy of MS Office for Andoid and iOS before 2014. I guess not.

When that many early adopters are learning to use tablets without "official" MS Office, I have to wonder how many middle and late tech adopters are going to feel the need to buy MS Office if there are free or cheap alternatives available for tablets.

I just wonder if the "delay strategy" for Android and iOS, in deference to the current Windows 8 Office or a tablet optimized Windows 8 MS Office is a good idea?

It seems the longer MS waits, the less relevant "official" MS Office becomes in the existing market dominated by Android and iOS.

TLDRMS delaying Office for other Eco Systems, in order to support Windows 8 is making "official" MS Office less relevant on the 90+% of the current tablet market.

There are 140+ million iPads, and 10s of millions of Android tablets (and Kindle Fires) being used everyday without MS Office.

You would think that MS would want support those earlier adopters (influencers) with a copy of MS Office for Andoid and iOS before 2014. I guess not.

When that many early adopters are learning to use tablets without "official" MS Office, I have to wonder how many middle and late tech adopters are going to feel the need to buy MS Office if there are free or cheap alternatives available for tablets.

I just wonder if the "delay strategy" for Android and iOS, in deference to the current Windows 8 Office or a tablet optimized Windows 8 MS Office is a good idea?

It seems the longer MS waits, the less relevant "official" MS Office becomes in the existing market dominated by Android and iOS.

TLDRMS delaying Office for other Eco Systems, in order to support Windows 8 is making "official" MS Office less relevant on the 90+% of the current tablet market.

I agree 100%. When I got my iPad I hated iWork Apps for my Mac. Which is why I kept a new PC on my desk in addition to the Mac for my MS Office apps. But when I started using them out of necessity on my iPad, I liked their implementation on the Pad so much that I started using them on my Mac. Now I have been a beta tester for the Cloud version. iWork in the Cloud is much better than Office 360 in my opinion. Of course they are in beta and don't fully have all features working properly. But then neither does my 8.1 Windows yet.

I know of a lot of people who have been using these apps on their iPad/iPhone and will use the Cloud version when it comes out. This is a problem for Microsoft. Perhaps they can do something on Android. Nobody has gained great market share on Android, so they have a chance there, though if it blows as bad as the Outlook I just downloaded for my iPhone, they won't make much headway there (I use Office 360 for a client). Someone needs to emerge a winner on Android for Office apps (I mean be dominant in market share not functionality), and several apps I have used there are good. If a winner emerges on Android, Office is relegated to the dustbin for a new generation of people on the devices they use most.

There are 140+ million iPads, and 10s of millions of Android tablets (and Kindle Fires) being used everyday without MS Office.

You would think that MS would want support those earlier adopters (influencers) with a copy of MS Office for Andoid and iOS before 2014. I guess not.

When that many early adopters are learning to use tablets without "official" MS Office, I have to wonder how many middle and late tech adopters are going to feel the need to buy MS Office if there are free or cheap alternatives available for tablets.

I just wonder if the "delay strategy" for Android and iOS, in deference to the current Windows 8 Office or a tablet optimized Windows 8 MS Office is a good idea?

It seems the longer MS waits, the less relevant "official" MS Office becomes in the existing market dominated by Android and iOS.

TLDRMS delaying Office for other Eco Systems, in order to support Windows 8 is making "official" MS Office less relevant on the 90+% of the current tablet market.

I agree 100%. When I got my iPad I hated iWork Apps for my Mac. Which is why I kept a new PC on my desk in addition to the Mac for my MS Office apps. But when I started using them out of necessity on my iPad, I liked their implementation on the Pad so much that I started using them on my Mac. Now I have been a beta tester for the Cloud version. iWork in the Cloud is much better than Office 360 in my opinion. Of course they are in beta and don't fully have all features working properly. But then neither does my 8.1 Windows yet.

I know of a lot of people who have been using these apps on their iPad/iPhone and will use the Cloud version when it comes out. This is a problem for Microsoft. Perhaps they can do something on Android. Nobody has gained great market share on Android, so they have a chance there, though if it blows as bad as the Outlook I just downloaded for my iPhone, they won't make much headway there (I use Office 360 for a client). Someone needs to emerge a winner on Android for Office apps (I mean be dominant in market share not functionality), and several apps I have used there are good. If a winner emerges on Android, Office is relegated to the dustbin for a new generation of people on the devices they use most.

Microsoft continues to defy good management judgement again.

Agree

I used a MS XP convertible tablet for a while back in 2003 and Office 2010 looks the same on a convertible table as it did 10 years ago. Aka, no effort for tablet optimization. I understand that in 2003 but not 2013.

MS has many divisions, some profitable and some not. Windows and Office have always been two of biggest for profitability. Sacrificing Office dominance on all platforms to support Windows is like shooting yourself in the foot.

It's like management saying "we're playing the long game" but they aren't really even in the game yet? MS achieved their dominance in desktops in the way Android has in mobile. Commodity cheap hardware.. Now the market is dominated by hardware and OSes that MS doesn't sell to...?

Was that a good strategy or old MS thinking? What impact will it have on the necessity of "official" Office?

I'm surprised Microsoft is being given a free pass to dump a Metro theme on iOS. It looks out of place and my experience has always been that users hate it when a ported app looks like the OS it was ported from instead of native-feeling. (Anyone else remember the debacle that was Word 6.0 on classic Mac OS??)

You should have seen the mess that WordPerfect for Windows was on OS/2...

never tried this app; no idea if it's shit or not. just here to offer my opine from the peanut gallery: if microsoft is going to win people over in the mobile generation, this is how -- porting a slick experience to a rival platform, getting people into it, and then backing it up with an even more rich experience in exchange for handing over your balls. otherwise, people will be apt to keep their testicles in-sack.

It's almost adorably charming: they've spend decades building their fortunes on monopoly products and locked-in markets and they have no idea how to compete.

Their new approach seems like it's based on wish fulfillment or magical thinking: they really want everyone to 1) prefer their phones and tablets rather than Apple's or Google's (and use them for their mobile Office needs); 2) prefer their SAS products to their local-storage non-rental-model products; 3) like their Metro interface (as a majority opinion). So they just proceed as if those three things were true. They're behaving exactly as they would if Office365, Windows Phone, Windows 8 and Surface were big hits.

the movie "pirates of silicon valley" has not gotten enough credit. there was a scene in it, in which the actor portraying ballmer (dead-on casting, whoever it was!) described how gates could turn any living human situation into a poker game.

essentially, the genius of microsoft is sort of a meta-genius. they are not actually very good at moving anything forward, they are just very good at understanding which areas of the market to corner. consequently, when they aren't fast enough at cornering whatever market, they get caught with their pants completely down, and it feels like a very unfunny dad joke.

the movie "pirates of silicon valley" has not gotten enough credit. there was a scene in it, in which the actor portraying ballmer (dead-on casting, whoever it was!) described how gates could turn any living human situation into a poker game.

essentially, the genius of microsoft is sort of a meta-genius. they are not actually very good at moving anything forward, they are just very good at understanding which areas of the market to corner. consequently, when they aren't fast enough at cornering whatever market, they get caught with their pants completely down, and it feels like a very unfunny dad joke.

edit: zune. kin. surface. etc...

Poker in that they were dealt a spectacular hand when playing against IBM, and another spectacular hand when they were negotiating with Apple, and a third when the antitrust remedy was set aside by Bush's incoming Justice Department. Every dollar they've made is based on those three royal flushes.

I'm surprised Microsoft is being given a free pass to dump a Metro theme on iOS. It looks out of place and my experience has always been that users hate it when a ported app looks like the OS it was ported from instead of native-feeling. (Anyone else remember the debacle that was Word 6.0 on classic Mac OS??)

Because we like the interface?

When in Rome...Porting a different OS's style is generally a bad design for the users. If one wants a Metro UI, then one should buy a device with a Metro Ui, such as a Windows phone or tablet. Those who buy an iOS device usually expect an iOS UI and that expectation should be honored in order to maintain a consistent UX. While MS is not the only one to commit this sin (I'm looking at you, iTunes on Windows), this example is particularly egregious. It seems more like an ad for Windows Phone. MS seems intent to shove the Metro UI down everyone's throat, and they are no longer content to do this on their own desktop platform. Now they are doing this on other platforms where the experience is even more jarring. For what reason I do not know why.

I wonder where the code for this came from. Maybe the reason for the Metro style UI is that it could be ported from another platform simply by re-compiling it?

Sean Gallagher / Sean is Ars Technica's IT Editor. A former Navy officer, systems administrator, and network systems integrator with 20 years of IT journalism experience, he lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.